sublime

UK[səˈblaɪm]US[səˈblaɪm]

adj

Of such excellence, grandeur, or beauty as to inspire great admiration or awe.

adj

(of a person's attitude or behavior) extreme or unparalleled; supreme.

To elevate or purify to a high degree of moral or spiritual excellence.

(in alchemy) to cause (a substance) to vaporize by heating and then allow it to solidify again.

Morpheme Breakdown

sub

lime

sub

under, up to

lime

threshold

Etymology

The word 'sublime' originates from the Latin verb sublimare, meaning "to lift up, elevate, raise high." This verb itself is built from the prefix sub- (here meaning "up to") and the root limen ("threshold, lintel"). The literal image is of lifting something up to the highest point, the very lintel of a doorway. In its journey into English, first via Old French, the term evolved from a physical sense of elevation to a metaphorical one. It came to describe things so lofty, excellent, or awe-inspiring that they seem elevated above the ordinary, reaching the very threshold of the transcendent or divine.

Analysis

Structure: sub (under, up to) + lime (threshold) - sub: A Latin preposition and prefix meaning "under, below, up to, close to." - lime: From Latin limen, meaning "threshold, lintel, boundary."

Examples

The view from the mountain peak was absolutely sublime.

She listened to the music with a look of sublime indifference on her face.

The poet sought to sublime his personal grief into universal art.